Research Project
9878330
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Malaria is a disease caused by protozoan parasites that are transmitted to humans by mosquitoes in the genus Anopheles. There are nearly 220 million new cases of malaria every year, and 500,000 people die from the disease while millions of others are severely debilitated (2016 data). About half the human population is at risk of contracting malaria, and its range may spread as global warming accelerates. The broad, long term objectives of this proposal are to create new methods of combating malaria to complement the current methods of control, namely insecticides to kill mosquito vectors and drugs to kill parasites in infected people. This project seeks to develop the means to create strains of bacteria that can interfere with the ability of mosquitoes to transmit malaria thus reducing its overall health burden and aiding in the goal of eradicating this disease. The specific aims of this research project are as follows: Aim 1. Creation of genetically-stable antimalarial strains of Asaia bogorensis For eventual field use, paratransgenic strains of Asaia must be genetically stable. Because these systems cannot be based on laboratory plasmids that use drug selection, we will develop methods to create strains that contain genes that are inserted in the chromosome or are borne on plasmids that require no drug selection and that cannot be horizontally transferred to other bacteria. Aim 2. Assessing combinations of antimalarial effector genes for effectiveness against Plasmodium. Field strains of Asaia will have to express multiple antiplasmodial effector gene encoding products that act against parasites by different routes to avoid the evolution of resistance by the parasites. We will evaluate different combinations of effector genes in the same strain of Asaia for effectiveness at killing Plasmodium and for their effect on the fitness of the Asaia strains.
